Join us for a moderated conversation and audience Q&A with mobile Internet pioneer Dag Kittlaus, co-founder and creator of Siri, the new voice interaction feature in the popular Apple Inc. iPhone 4S. Dag will discuss his journey to creating one of the more innovative mobile technologies in recent history—a product that took him from Chicago to Silicon Valley and back to Chicago again. In addition to the discussion about working with Apple, Dag will give his perspective on the differences between the Chicago and California technology scenes.

Enjoy drinks, appetizers and lively networking before and after the program.

Dag Kittlaus is co-founder/CEO of Siri, Inc., the California-based Internet software company that was bought by Apple Inc. in 2009. He helped create the Siri voice feature that was introduced in the Apple iPhone 4S in October. A native of Chicago, Mr. Kittlaus is a serial innovator of mobile Internet products. Previously, Mr. Kittlaus ran several product groups at Motorola Inc., including the xProducts group. He also served as general manger of Motorola’s Interactive Media Group. Mr. Kittlaus also served as head of the Mobile Internet Portal for Telenor Mobile in Norway.

Tom Ryan is the CEO of Threadless, a community-based design company with an ongoing open-call for design submissions from visual artists worldwide. As designs are submitted, the Threadless community of over 2 million members cast their votes to determine which designs become Threadless t-shirts and other products. Threadless is a poster child of “crowdsourcing” and was named by Inc. Magazine as “the most innovative small company in America.” Tom also serves on the board of directors of Smule, a social music company that develops top selling iPhone applications, and Trunk Club, a clothing service for men.

Before Threadless, Tom spent a decade as an entrepreneur and executive in the digital music business. He ran global digital strategy at EMI Music and held roles at Virgin Mobile USA, eMusic, and Cductive, an early digital music retailer that he founded and sold to eMusic.